You will keep some images of your time spent here, as you try to capture those fleeting moments. Dawn for example. In the dark of night, you could see a slight glow to the east. It began with a line on the horizon over the dark sea. Gradually it rose up, revealing grey clouds against a bluish background. Then the sky was flooded with blue with the mast and sails standing out against the brightness, creating huge geometrical shapes. The blue slowly lightened to become turquoise. Life returned to colour, with cotton wool clouds, dazzling white sails and silvery waves. The sun rose out of the sea like a huge orange disc moving across the intense blue. Just to complete the picture, a pod of dolphins gathered around the bow as if they were saying hello. As a good reporter, you filmed that magical moment. It is nevertheless difficult to express what you felt at that awesome moment, but there were some great shots, a picture postcard image likely to entice others. So you offer this gift to your partner.
In this adventure where everything begins, when the boat disappears over the horizon, you were able to convince them to be there at your side. It was a huge investment, but they trusted you to take their company around the world, with no stopovers, no guests to enthrall, no applause from spectators. They cannot see anything, but can expect a lot. They are an investor with no shares, who suffers the ups and downs of the weather systems.
In fact, nothing seems stranger than this meeting between a skipper away from the demands of ordinary life and a director involved in the life of a company. The link is probably more on a simple human level. Looking beyond the technical skills, the contact is established with a unique character, the solo sailor. It is nothing like a rugby team, where each individual is part of a team. As you get to know each other, the friendship develops. I can remember getting a call from a partner, who was worried about the health of his skipper. Through the way he expressed himself and his apparent worry, you could feel the genuine link between them. He seemed so upset that it was almost as if the sailor was his son. It is not by chance that in ocean racing, lots of skippers and partners remain together for many years of racing. Sometimes this relationship is so strong that it extends beyond the racing and promotional aspects.
Exploring your own human resources, you share your adventure with others. Away from prying eyes, in the solitude of your cabin, your true character is revealed, whether you like it or not. There are those that enjoy telling funny stories, the quiet ones, who in a few words can get our imagination working, the precision of the performer, the hard worker, who is battling and we want to support, and then, there are those, who have had extreme difficulties and share the injustice of the cruel sea with us.
There are few sports, where the personality is so exposed for such a long time, but that is probably the reason why we feel so close to them. You don’t need to be an expert understanding Velocity Made Good, Carbon Fibre or thalwegs. Here, it is the human aspect, which dominates. Sometimes a single word from him or her is enough to move us.
We discover their true personality and admire or love them. The sea is an environment that is too hostile to allow cheating. This sport is not one involving the performance of muscle power or a machine that is pushed to the extreme over a few seconds or minutes. At sea for a fairly long period of time, to be successful requires endurance but also know-how. It is up to you to mange your sleep, meals, and take care of yourself if you have an accident or get sick. You need to be a mechanic, electrician, electronics and computer expert, a meteorologist, router, sailmaker, rigger and carbon specialist. On top of that, you can be a film-maker, actor, cameraman and editor. In short, you have to be creative and independent.
If you want to win, you have to be a sportsman and engineer. That takes will power, hard work, thousands of miles and lots of setbacks. But you have learnt. It took time. Ocean racing is something that requires maturity and in general the winners are aged over forty. Some have tried to go faster and many have burnt their wings. Chemical substances cannot help. Doping or drugs to keep you awake are no use here. Going beyond the fact that it is impossible to control the effects over a long period of time, these products can only destroy the intimate relationship that the sailor has built up with his boat and the sea. Ocean racing is something that takes time to learn, and understanding the ocean is rather like playing an instrument. And you need real talent to become a virtuoso.
Dr Jean-Yves Chauve